off the water. According to the mirror, the shave hadn't helped much; in fact, it just showcased his bruises, which were now yellowing out. Crap. He wanted to look nice for Marissa, especially since last night had turned out to be such a mess.
As he stared at his reflection, he poked his front tooth, the one with the little chip out of it. Shit... if he wanted to look like he deserved her, he'd need plastic surgery, detox, and a full set of caps.
Whatever. He had other things to worry about if he was going to see her in ten minutes. She'd sounded like hell over the phone last night, and it looked like they were back to having distance between them. But at least she was willing to see his ass.
Which led to his big concern. He reached down and picked up a paring knife off the edge of the white sink.
Extending his forearm, he-
"Cop, you're going to be full of holes if you keep this up."
Butch looked into the mirror. Behind him, V was leaning against the doorjamb, a glass of Goose and a cigarette in his hand. Turkish tobacco scented the air, pungent, masculine.
"Come on, V. I need to be sure. I know your hand works wonders, but..." He drew the blade over his skin, then closed his eyes, afraid of what was going to come out.
"It's red, Butch. You're okay."
He glanced at the wet crimson streak. "How do I know for sure, though?"
"You don't smell like a lesser anymore and you did last night." V came into the bathroom. "And secondly..."
Before Butch knew what was doing, V grabbed his forearm, bent down, and licked the cut, sealing it up quick.
Butch yanked out of his roommate's hold. "Jesus, V! What if that blood's contaminated!"
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"It's fine. Just f-" With a boneless lurch, Vishous gasped and collapsed against the wall, eyes rolling back in his head, body twitching.
"Oh, God... !" Butch reached out in horror-
Only to have V cut the seizure off and calmly take a drink from his glass. "You're fine, cop. Tastes perfectly okay. Well, fine for human guy, which really ain't my 'tail of choice, you feel me?"
Butch hauled back and nailed his roommate in the arm with his fist. And as the brother cursed, Butch popped him another one.
V glared and rubbed himself. "Christ, cop."
"Suck it up, you deserve it."
Butch pushed by the brother and headed for his closet. As he tried to figure out what to wear, he was rough with his clothes, shoving them around on their hangers.
He stopped. Closed his eyes. "What the fuck, V. Last night I was bleeding black. Now I'm not. Is my body some kind of sewer-processing plant?"
V eased onto the bed, leaning back against the headboard, resting his glass on his leather-clad thigh. "Maybe. I don't know."
Man, he was so tired of feeling lost. "I thought you knew everything."
"Not fair, Butch."
"Shit... you're right. I apologize."
"Can we screw the 'sorry' part and let me hit you back instead?"
As they both laughed, Butch forced himself to pick a suit and ended up tossing a blue/black Zegna on the bed next to V. Then he fingered his ties. "I saw the Omega, didn't I. That thing in me was part of him. He put part of himself in me."
"Yeah. That's what I think."
Butch felt a sudden need to go to church and pray for his salvation. "No going back to normal for me, is there."
"Probably not."
Butch stared at his tie collection, getting swamped by the colors and the choices. As he stood frozen with indecision, for some reason he thought about his family in South Boston.
Talk about normal... and they were unchanging, too, so relentlessly the same. For the O'Neal clan, there had been one pivotal event, and that tragedy had thrown the chessboard of the family up in the air. When the pieces had fallen, they'd landed in glue: After Jane had been raped and murdered when she was fifteen, everyone had stayed in their places. And he was the unforgiven outsider.
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To cut off his train of thought, Butch pulled a blood red Ferragamo from the rack. "So what's on deck for you tonight, vampire?"
"I'm supposed to be off."
"Good."
"No, bad. You know I hate not fighting, true?"
"You're strung too tight."
"Hah."
Butch glanced over his shoulder. "Do I need to remind you about this afternoon?"
V's eyes dropped to his glass. "Nothing doing."
"You woke up screaming so loud I thought you'd been